Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America — Season 1, Episode 4: The Groundbreakers: When I'm Bad, I'm Better
Documentary, Comedy • 60 min • 1 season, 6 episodes
Episode synopsis
In the ongoing war against hypocrisy, conservatism, political correctness, prejudice, prudery, censorship, sentimentality, liberalism, extremism, and complacency, it was always the comedian who led the first wave of attack. Rather than using risqué jokes and four-letter words simply to get a rise out of an audience, the most audacious comedians – from pioneers like Mae West and Moms Mabley to 60s and 70s bad boys like Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and George Carlin – invoked what the First Amendment of the American Constitution calls “freedom of speech” to bring the biggest and most dangerous laughs to the American public.
About Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America
Melding performance, biography and history, this features interviews with over 90 comedians, writers, producers, and historians.